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Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy

Europa Universalis IV

Focus Your Power in New EU4 Expansion: Leviathan

Picture a capital city that shines like a gemstone, improved by the wealth drawn from the hinterland - decorated by riches demanded from vassals. A capital not of a mighty territorial empire, but of a compact and concentrated state that can still use gold and favors to influence neighbors and rivals. Picture it and then make it so in Europa Universalis IV: Leviathan.

Leviathan is the newest expansion to Paradox’s flagship grand strategy game about the early modern world. Leviathan offers new tools that allow you to play “tall” with smaller and more focused realms with a few centers of power. It also has a host of other changes to well-established game features like Regencies and Colonies.

Among other things, Leviathan gives you new ways to quickly develop your capital, drawing resources and power from vassals or newly conquered territories, and allows you to build beyond your province’s construction limit if you are willing to pay the price.

[previewyoutube="f0e8IdJqKZE;full"]

Europa Universalis IV: Leviathan will be accompanied by a major free update that reworks the Southeast Asian and Australasian maps, with new nations, new cultures and new religions. This fascinating region of powerful monarchs and rich merchants takes on new color and offers new ways to play.

Release Date and Price will be communicated later


Wishlist today
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1416420/Expansion__Europa_Universalis_IV_Leviathan/

Dev Diary: Monuments

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Good morning, everyone! Today we're back to some exciting content, talking about a whole new feature we'll be introducing in our next expansion: Monuments!

Similar to the Wonders feature in CK2, you'll be able to build some of the most iconic and stunning buildings that serve as landmarks for many of our different playable nations. And, of course, given how important they were (and some still are), they will also grant you special and permanent bonuses. Let's cover some of their major points!

  • Monuments are a special type of building that can only be built in certain provinces (according to their real life location), already set at the beginning of the game. However, some of them will be able to be relocated to your capital if you own their province. This is true for some "non-settled" monuments, like Stonehenge or the Moai, but will be impossible to do when it comes to other bigger monuments, like Nôtre-Dame.
  • Monuments will be displayed in the province view in a separate window, each of them having a new and unique 2D art that portrays the monument at its highest (but also according to our time period). In this view you'll be able to see the benefits of upgrading it, the cost and the requirements for doing so, as well as the current tier, represented by medals.



  • Monuments have 4 different tiers, ranging from 0 to 3. Tier 0 implies that said monument is completely devastated or not even built yet and you will get no bonuses from it; each building will have a default tier at the beginning of the game, according to its real life state in 1444. Achieving a new tier is both time and resource consuming, costing a total of 1000 gold to upgrade each time and taking 50 years to complete. This process can be sped up by using an extra 300 gold to bring the project forward by 730 days or by using 10000 manpower to get the same result.
  • The modifiers you get from reaching every tier are permanent and linked to the purpose of each building: for example, the Alhambra will reward you with some diplomatic and administrative bonuses, whilst the Shwedagon Pagoda will help you boost your karma and legitimacy, also reducing the unrest in the area. These bonuses may apply to your province, its area or the entire nation, growing stronger and wider as you upgrade your monument.




  • Monuments will require you to meet certain conditions before building or upgrading them and, if you fail to meet them, you will also lose their bonuses even after having completed their construction. Normally these conditions are to have a certain culture or follow a certain religion, but some monuments, like the Ambras Castle, are available for everyone that owns their province to build.




  • After conquering a province with a monument, its tier is reset to 1 to show the impact of the war in the city, even if it was already in an upper tier. However, it won't be reset to tier 0, as if it was completely destroyed. Also, provinces with a monument cost more warscore, as they hold a special significance to their owner. The new owner, however, will be able to upgrade it again, as long as the requirements are still met.
  • Some missions will also be linked to certain monuments, specially if they were relevant for a tag during the time period we are covering. For example, you can see that in this Majapahit mission one of the requirements is to have the Borobudur temple upgraded to its maximum tier. Some other missions will also give you a great projects' building cost reduction or time reduction bonus, making it easier to upgrade your monuments.


(Please notice that our icons are still placeholders).
As you can see in the first screenshot, certain monuments will also have 3D art displayed on the map. Those models that were already implemented in the National Monuments cosmetic dlcs will be added as proper monuments, and you'll be able to see them both in the political and terrain mapmodes.

Thank you for reading and I hope you're as excited as we are about this! See you next week!

Dev Diary: Draft Transports

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Welcome everyone to another development diary for Europa Universalis IV. This time it's yet another short one, written by me, talking about some new mechanics.

First of all, we are changing the Plutocratic Government Reform. For those that do not recall what it is, it's a reform available to countries in either of the indian, muslim, chinese or east-african technology groups. Previously it gave a merchant and affected the influence of some estates.

In 1.31 it will become far more powerful, as it will also get all the benefits and drawbacks of a merchant republic, including trade posts & trade leagues. This will make it possible to create a powerfully focused trading nation in the east.

Secondly, as you may have noticed in the previous screenshot, this reform also unlocks something called “draft transports”. This is an ability that comes with the next expansion, and allows you to quickly get transports at a cost that may be beneficial to you if you are a smaller nation.

Drafted Transports will begin construction in as many ports as needed, just like building a template, and the amount of transports you get depends on your naval force limits.

Drafted Transports take half the time of a normal transport to build.

Drafted Transports cost a fraction of your income instead of a fixed amount, so it is not really beneficial to large empires, but it is a great way to quickly and cheaply get a new transport fleet when playing a lesser naval power that can not afford keeping it around all the time.

Next week, we’ll be back, talking about a new feature that may either be unprecedented or something really really lasting.

Dev Diary: North American Tags

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Good morning, everyone! Today we're back at North America taking a look at some of the remaining interesting tags in terms of missions and events.

To begin with, we have the Pueblo tribes, in the actual New Mexico region. The tags we have for them are Isleta, Acoma, Zuni, Zia and Ohkay Owingeh. They lived in adobe or stone villages, and were mainly interested in agriculture, specifically maize. They were descendants of the Mogollon Culture, the Hohokam Culture, and the Ancestral Pueblo people, who inhabited the village of Mesa Verde, where a spectacular cliff palace can be seen. Some highlights of this tree include:


  • The missions "Place that Always Was" and "Restore Mesa Verde" make reference to said village, giving prestige and diplomatic bonuses after owning and developing it.
  • "Chaco Roads" and "Irrigation Canals" are references to the importance of agriculture in the region, with the first giving benefits to trade efficiency and range in the provinces that have native great trails, as well as some small manpower modifier, since they can also be used for military travel purposes. The second one rewards the building of irrigation canals with some local production efficiency, as long as you keep your devastation low.
  • The "Ancestral Puebloans" mission lets you change your tag name to "Pueblo", as long as you have conquered all the other provinces of the same culture, or by having a Federation Size bigger than 5. It will compensate your efforts with a permanent modifier that gives you +5% Morale of the Armies and +1 Diplomatic Reputation until the end of the game.

When it comes to events, among others, the Pueblo tribes will get "Po'pay's Rebellion" events, which happened in 1680 and was a revolt organized by the Native Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers, and which succeeded in expelling them from their land for more than ten years. In the starting event, you'll get a general named "Po'pay" and a +10% Morale of the Armies to combat the colonizers.

Then we have the Dakota and Lakota nations, formed by the Sioux, Wichiyena and Lakota tags, which lived around the Lake Superior region. They were a society much more focused on hunting and gathering, thus tracking animals through the woodlands, harvesting wild rice and fishing on wooden canoes. Their villages were organized in camp circles, large extended families led by a chief appointed by a council of elders, and this kinship ties were a key feature of their lives both on a personal and on a more pragmatic level, affecting warfare, alliances, work and marriage.


  • The "Camp Circles" mission addresses this social organization, being triggered when your capital has at least 10 Development, and you have at least 1 Stability and 200 Diplomatic Points. As a reward, you'll get +25 Government Reform Progress, and some extra diplomatic power.
  • The "Seven Council Fires" mission is a reference to each of the fires representing one of the seven Dakota villages, who would gather together in peace or war negotiations. Owning these seven provinces would add some extra military power to your nation.
  • Both "Hereditary Enemies" and "Fight the Iroquois" address some old rivalries between the Dakota and Lakota people against some other tribes. The first one is about the dispute against the Ojibwe people, so having a -100 opinion of them, and them having a -100 opinion of you would be rewarded with some prestige and morale bonuses, as well as claims to their provinces. The second one is about fighting for the resources around the Great Lakes against any of the Iroquois tribes, giving an extra manpower modifier as a reward.

One of the events for these nations is Foreign Trade, since a few European explorers and missionaries lived among the tribes and tried to gain their respect by following their traditions. One of the most important alliances was the one that the Dakota tribes entered with French merchants in the late 17th century, where they traded fur in exchange for European goods. In this event, you'll get local trade power and production efficiency to your capital, in case you manage to achieve an alliance with France while they own any province in the North America super-region.

After that we have the Powhatan nation, which inhabited the actual Virginia region. One of the main focuses of these people was the use of birchbark canoes for both warfare and fishing, however, they also had a great interest in growing crops, especially maize, as well as in hunting in the woodlands. They were among the first Natives to experience contact with Europeans, and some of the events for this nation address that matter. Some highlights of the mission tree are:


  • "Just Around the Riverbend", "Head of Navigation" and "Powhatan Fleet" are all focused on the naval power of the Powhatan tribe, so building to Naval Force Limit, and having enough transports and a flagship will reward you with Ship Durability, Morale of the Navy, National Sailors Modifier, and some Navy Tradition, apart from a Admiral with 80 Tradition when completing the last mission.
  • "Yehakins" is a reference to the type of buildings they used for living, made of young saplings, woven mats or bark. Having a longhouse in any of your provinces and a fortified house in the capital will reduce the development cost for those provinces, as well as increasing the local tax modifier and giving a small government reform progress.
  • "The Laughing King" was chief Debedeavon, ruler of the Accawmacke Native nation, tributaries of the Powhatan Chiefdom when the first Europeans arrived in 1608, and a legendary monarch that will become available for duty as a 1/4/3/2 general if you have built your Army and Navy to their Force Limit.

Some of the events for the Powhatan tribe include Tribal Trade and European Trade, which both focus on changing the resources produced in your land. The first one addresses the trade of copper and red dye as luxury objects that the Powhatan would cherish, while the second is triggered when any European nation gets a neighboring province, allowing you to exchange crops for iron or wool from the Old World.


Lastly, we have the Cherokee people that lived in villages along river valleys in the actual North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama areas. Agriculture and gathering were both part of their culture, and, as most Native societies at this time, gathered maize, but also engaged in hunting, with their trade being valuable by European nations, since the deer skins they collected from their mountain hunting-grounds were of exquisite quality.


  • The "White Government" and "Red Government" missions are references to the two types of government that the Cherokee people had, one for the peaceful times and another for times of war. The first one requires a Stability of at least 1, +200 Gold and the employment of a Diplomatic advisor, and will reward the player with a new and cheaper advisor, and some diplomatic power. The second one needs a general and to build to Army Force Limit and will reward the player with a new general and some military power.
  • "Botanical Exports" addresses the ethnobotanical knowledge of the Cherokee people, both in recognizing the healing and harmful properties of the plants that surround their land. Completing the mission will reward the player with two modifiers, one increasing the Trade Efficiency and another one increasing the Manpower Recovery Speed, since this knowledge will help them recover from battle.

Among the events for the Cherokee nation, we have the Cherokee National Council, which was created in 1794 and ruled their nation as a legal and autonomous tribal government until the year 1907. The event will be triggered either by having the Clan Council Reform or the Native Republic Reform, and some stability and diplomatic power will be added to your country.

We have also added 18 events to the Totemism faith, including two small event chains. One of them addresses a Native myth that holds some similarities to Orpheus and Eurydice's famous story; the second one is about the finding of a sacred cave in your land and follows this structure:
Where the Legend Begins (totemism_flavor.8):

  • Triggers if you have a province that is not your capital.
  • Option a: Send explorers (-5 treasury, -0.05 manpower, adds province modifier “legendary_location”, giving local_autonomy = 0.1, local_unrest = -2 and prestige = 0.25 until the end of the game).
  • Option b: Do nothing.

Exploring the Caves (totemism_flavor.9):

  • Triggers if you have chosen option 8.a.
  • Option a: Adds church_loyalty if you have estate_church, adds temple to the sacred province if the nation is reformed, adds native_ceremonial_fire_pit if the province doesn’t have one, adds a native_longhouse if they do or adds prestige = 10 if none of these are applicable.

Cave Maintenance (totemism_flavor.10):

  • Triggers if you have chosen option 8.a. and have already had event flavor.9.
  • Option a: Sends your adm or dip advisor to take care of it, adds province modifier “tot_legendary_location_maintained” for 1825, giving local_unrest = -3, prestige = and prestige_decay = -0.01.
  • Option b: Sends your heir (will trigger event flavor.12 and he gets a 50% chance of having a +1 adm point), adds province modifier “tot_legendary_location_maintained” for 1825, giving local_unrest = -3, prestige = and prestige_decay = -0.01.
  • Option c: Donate some money, treasury -10, adds province modifier “tot_legendary_location_maintained” for 1825, giving local_unrest = -3, prestige = and prestige_decay = -0.01.
  • Option d: Do nothing.

Where the Legend Ends (totemism_flavor.11):

  • Triggers if the country doesn't follow the Totemism faith anymore.
  • Option a: You leave the caves. Removes all province modifiers of the chain, adds country modifier “tot_legend_abandoned” for 3650, giving religious_unity = -0.25.

A Convenient Landslide (totemism_flavor.12):

  • Triggers if you have chosen option 10.b.
  • Option a: There’s a 30% chance that your heir might die.


Thank you for reading and see you next week back with some new mechanics!

Dev Diary: Regencies

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Hello and Welcome to another Europa Universalis IV development diary. 2020 was an interesting year to say the least, but now we are in 2021, and the Tinto team is now fully up to speed with working on the new expansion. Today we’ll focus on some new aspects related to Heirs, Regencies and Estates.

First of all, one change for heirs and their legitimacy is that it will start a fair bit lower on average, and slowly increase over time as the heir grows older. Having high prestige increases it faster. Please note that corruption in your court increases it, as there is nothing screaming legitimate future King as much as a few sacks of gold in your pocket.

Secondly, with this new expansion, we have removed the regency councils, and instead replaced them by Estate Regencies.

Instead, a Regent will be generated from your most powerful estate. This will further increase the power of that estate, which might also give you a specific benefit or not.

Please note however that this does not replace consort regencies - consorts will still take priority over an estate-led regency

Thirdly, we are adding the option for extending a regency. Extending a regency reduces legitimacy by 10, and extends the current regency with another 5 years. Of course, the claim of the heir continues to increase. While a regency has some drawbacks, this can be very beneficial, if your heir is an imbecile, and your regency council is not entire incompetent.

Lest we forget, we have also changed so that you are no longer constantly losing legitimacy the longer you have a regency, but instead its an increase in stability cost.

We are also adding a fair bit more interesting events that occur when you are in a regency, all to add more interesting flavor to the experience, not to mention interesting situations.

As you may have noticed, this is one of the shorter development diaries, even if it gives you some new features, but next week, we’ll return to an interesting look at some more american nations and their content.

Dev Diary: Polynesia

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After a few weeks without Dev Diaries, I am happy to present you a new one. I hope you all had a great time during them!

When I joined Paradox in October, Polynesia was not included in this Expansion. Considering it was the last part of the Earth without representation, I thought it would be nice to have some work done on it, so I proposed some ideas that I am happy to share with you all.

But, before I start, I would like to thank @Mechaffinity for his help and work that has greatly inspired me for this project.

THE MAP
The map has been slightly changed, since the basic needed setup was already there. However, in order to go a bit deeper, a few provinces have been added here and there. Do note that the flags are still a placeholder and not the final result.

Starting with Fiji, the archipelago has been divided in three provinces: one for each big island (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) and a third one for the Lau archipelago that had a great influence from Tonga. Each province has a country inhabiting it, which is an abstraction of the many clans that populated each island. Should you unite them all under your banner, you will be able to form Viti.

In New Zealand a new province has been added in North Island which has the most populated one by the Maori people. The number of countries, though, goes up to 7. Six of them (Mataatua, Tainui, Takitimu, Taranaki, Te Arawa and Te Tai Tokerau) are in the Northern Island and Waitaha is in the Southern One. As in the case of Fiji, a Maori country that manages to unite the area is able to form Aotearoa.

Finally, the greatest transformation has been done in the Hawaiian Archipelago, that has gone from one province to four. Each province has their own country attached (Hawai’i, Kaua’i, Maui and O’ahu). As in the other cases, there is a formable for the unifiers of the islands.

A Polynesian rework could not let the two most important countries out: Samoa and Tonga.

THE MISSIONS
As in the case of the Americas, the mission tree consists of a general common mission tree for every country and some specific missions for each country or group of them.

[Tonga Mission Tree]
(Notice that all icons are still placeholders)​

Tonga is probably the most important TAG during this period. Despite the fact that the Tongan Empire is no more, a skillful player could rebuild it, bringing not only the neighboring islands under the control of Tongatapu, but go even further.

Some highlights of this tree include:

  • Bringing both Fiji and Samoa under your control again.
  • Recovering the Tongan Empire.
  • Expand even further.


[Samoan Mission Tree]
(Notice that all icons are still placeholders).​

If Tonga was the political power during the period, Samoa was the cultural one. Most of the Pacific was colonized from there and from there were most of the traditions that ruled the lives of the Polynesians.

Some highlights of this tree include:

  • Recover the place as the cultural center.
  • Challenge Tonga.
  • Replace Tonga as the main power in the Pacific.


In order to not spoil the surprise, I will let you discover what the missions for the Maori the Fijian and the Hawaiian countries consist of.

THE NATIONAL IDEAS
Adding new TAGs would not be the same if they were not accompanied by their National Ideas.

Starting with the Fijians TAGs, their warring nature brought them a reputation of ruthless combatants, feared by everyone. But Fijians were also deeply religious people and famous shipbuilding artisans. All these things are represented in their National Ideas, making them a rather expansionist set.

fijian_ideas = {
start = {
light_ship_power = 0.1
naval_attrition = -0.1
}

bonus = {
ae_impact = -0.2
}

trigger = {
OR = {
tag = LAI
tag = VIL
#TODO: tag = VIT
tag = VNL
}
}
free = yes

fijian_crossroad = {
num_accepted_cultures = 2
}
fijian_degel = {
range = 0.1
global_ship_trade_power = 0.1
}
fijian_conjoined = {
global_missionary_strength = 0.02
}
fijian_waqa = {
prestige_from_naval = 0.4
}
fijian_cannibal = {
army_tradition_from_battle = 0.25
prestige_from_land = 0.4
}
fijian_kai = {
land_attrition = -0.25
}
fijian_confederacy = {
global_tax_modifier = 0.05
production_efficiency = 0.05
}
}

[Fijian National Ideas]​

As in the case of the Fijians, the Maori are famed for their bravery and constant warfare. Their set of ideas is focused on land combat, without disregarding ways to keep the land around a strong leader.

maori_ideas = {
start = {
global_regiment_recruit_speed = -0.10
harsh_treatment_cost = -0.20
}

bonus = {
prestige = 1
}

trigger = {
primary_culture = maori
}
free = yes

sons_of_kupe = {
global_sailors_modifier = 0.10
range = 0.10
}
kaikiakitanga = {
tolerance_own = 1
}
kaumatua = {
stability_cost_modifier = -0.20
}
kapa_haka = {
land_morale = 0.10
}
pa_defence = {
fort_maintenance_modifier = -0.10
}
te_moko = {
leader_land_shock = 1
}
maori_king = {
core_creation = -0.10
legitimacy = 1
}
}

[Maori National Ideas]​

As with the missions, we’d better not spoil the surprise by showing everything, am I right? I have a challenge for those that love them: try a world conquest with a Polynesian TAG! There are a couple of things in this area that could help you in that adventure. ;)

THE EVENTS
Events are one of the parts I like the most. While not as much time as I would have liked has been available, I have added more than 40 events to the area, including general events, specific Country events and even a few Easter eggs that I hope you can find and enjoy!

Practice is what makes you a good warrior, after all.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).

This event can be very nasty if you are in a very bad shape.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).

As Samoa, you will be given the choice to reform your society a bit or go on with the traditions with every ruler.
(Notice that all pictures are still placeholders).​

THE EXTRAS
There are a few things that have been added in order to create a bigger sense of immersion.

Maori culture has been created, separated from the main Polynesian branch. By the start of the game, the Maori were abandoning the Archaic Maori Period and entering a transformation one. The Iwi became more sedentary and their once pacific nature became more warlike as competition for resources becomes more central. New traditions had evolved by this time that justifies separating them from their islander cousins.

A new Polynesian technology group has been created. This technology group is between that of the Mesoamericans and the North Americans in penalty, but starts at tech 2.

Most Estates have been renamed to their proper versions to increase the flavor.

And some extra surprises here and there.

For now this is all. We still have lots of things to show, so just be patient and enjoy the time in between, everything will come!

Dev Diary: The Philippines

Good morning, everyone! This week we’re going back to Southeast Asia to talk about some extra content that we’re making for some of the tags.

Starting with the Philippines, we have decided to focus on two specific tags instead of giving them all some generic missions. First, we have Tondo. Tondo is located in the island of Luzon, in the northern part of the archipelago. Philippine political organization consisted of a type of “city-states” called barangays, which formed groups of families ruled by a datu. Bigger barangays, as Tondo in this case, would integrate several smaller barangays governed by a paramount datu, whose title would vary in each region (lakan in the case of Tondo). This grand barangay was an important center of trade in all Nusantara, since the presence of Chinese migration resulted in Tondo becoming the main center of Chinese goods, trading all across Southeast Asia.

Some highlights from this mission tree include:

  • Growing Strong will reward the existence of level 2 forts in provinces Tondo, Laguna and Mindoro with +25% Defensiveness in each of them.
  • The Queen’s Channel is a reference to the channel that serves as a natural frontier with Manila, in the Pasig River delta. It was not only an important source of water for said barangay, but also its main opportunity of trading. Gaining control over it will give Tondo a huge +50 Trade Power in the Philippines trade node.
  • Both Befriend Majapahit and Abandon the Dragon refer to the importance of democratic relations in Tondo’s polity. The Majapahit Empire was a powerful ally of the Tondo people, so regaining their trust will result in some extra Diplomatic Power and +1 Diplomatic Reputation. At the start of the game, Tondo is a tributary of the Ming dynasty, so dissolving this union will grant Tondo Legitimacy, Administrative Power and some claims in the coast of China.

Next up, we have Madyas. After the Chola invasion of Srivijaya in the beginning of the 11th century, a group of dissident datus from Borneo and Sumatra fled their land and sought refuge in the Visayas islands, where they encountered the native population and, according to the legend, made a trade treaty with the Ati hero Marikudo and his wife, rightfully purchasing the land in Panay. Madyas thus became another grand barangay in the archipelago, with a special focus on maritime trade and warfare.

Some highlights from this mission tree include:

  • All the Ships of Aklan is a reference to the province of Aklan, seat of the first capital of the polity and center of the Confederation mentioned in the Book of Maragtas that we’ll address later. Because of the naval importance we have mentioned before, having an admiral, more than 8 galleys and building to the 90% of the naval Force Limit will be rewarded with a +5% Morale of Navies, -5% Heavy Ship Cost and -10% Light Ship Cost as our first mission.
  • Going Back Home implies the preparation for the return to their original land. Permanent claims on Borneo will be granted after making a show of force by owning at least 10 provinces in the Philippines.
  • The Book of Maragtas is the legendary book that gives an account of the history of the Madyas people and their arrival from Borneo. Owning the northern part of the island will result in 100 Diplomatic Power, 100 Administrative Power, 100 Military Power and +1 Stability.

In addition to these two mission trees, we have prepared 6 unique missions shared by both Tondo and Madyas in slot 2, regarding the conquest of all the archipelago. These missions will require the player to conquer the inhabited land of each of the three main regions: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, thus granting some morale bonuses and the possibility of immediately conquering unoccupied land in each of these areas, as long as there are two regiments present in each province.

Moving on, we have Palembang, one of the pirate nations that can be formed very early on in the game, so we wanted to reflect a bit of the pirate’s life in our missions too! But historically, Palembang was also one of the oldest cities in all Nusantara, once the capital of the powerful Srivijaya empire and main controller of all the maritime trade routes in Southeast Asia. A balance between this major historical moment and the more “modern” piracy was therefore necessary, all of it leading to the restoration of this ancient and powerful realm.

Some highlights from this mission tree include:

  • Where the Water Leaks is a reference to one possible etymological explanation for the name of this tag, always associated with water. This mission will require the player to build to 100% Naval Force Limit and will grant permanent claims on the Siak and Jambi controlled provinces, thus starting the recovery of their lost land.
  • Orang Laut, Arrival of the Dragonships and Pirate Kings all have the same objective of gaining the best possible allies to continue with the expansion plan. Having the state privilege Orang Laut Privileges and some owned provinces in the northern part will boost your Navy Tradition; dragonships were powerful ships of Chinese origin that will reward your conquests and maximum Navy Force Limit with a Ship Cost reduction and another boost to your Ship Combat Ability (all of them for both light and heavy ships); and having 2 powerful admirals and 4 more provinces in the East will allow access to the admiral Chen (3/3/4/3), a legendary Chinese pirate that ruled over Palembang.
  • Both King Under the Mountain and King’s Court in the second slot focus on the ancient splendor of the Srivijaya Empire, whose Shailendra dynasty came from the neighboring island of Java. Owning some provinces in said location will reduce National Unrest and add a general with 50 Tradition, as well as granting the final cores that will lead to our culminating mission.
  • Restore Srivijaya will require the player to own all of the Sumatra and Java islands, former possessions of the thalassocracy. With the recovered glory of the Empire, Palembang will be rewarded with a permanent Stability Cost Modifier of -10%, +1 Stability and more Diplomatic, Administrative and Military Power.

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading and have a nice week :)

"Dev Diary" Grandest LAN Post Mortem

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Hey everyone,

Pontus here, marketing lead on EU4. Sorry to inform you all that today’s "DD" has been delayed due to sick leave on the EUIV team, and we should be back to more normal next week.

Today we are here to talk a little bit about Grandest LAN. This year posed some additional challenges due to Covid. Obviously we couldn't bring dozens of people together in one place for days on end. Thankfully our partners at Parsec made this year's LAN party possible. Many of you have asked “How is this a LAN”? Simple! All the computers were here in Stockholm, in one great LAN (with minimal latency), and all the players used Parsec, which is a remote desktop app, to control the computers from the comfort of their homes. And it went off without a hitch! Thankfully. Thousands of you watched the events unfold live, and hundreds of thousands have already caught up by watching the VODs on Twitch.

We just want to give a warm and hearty thank you to everyone. TurboLARP for setting up the event, Parsec for making it possible. The players for taking time out of their lives to Role Play with us. Everyone on the back end making sure the game ran smoothly. The GMs, the casters, the devs, and you, the viewers, we do it all for you!

For those of you who missed the Grandest LAN live, the entire event is being uploaded to YouTube in easy to digest, 30ish minute episodes. We will compile the entire event into a playlist for ease of viewing as a series. We know it can be difficult to watch if simply presented, unedited, in two giant 12 hour chunks.

And one more thing we need to discuss... which team was your favorite to watch???
Was it the tag swapping Swiss?
The Dutch, whose cash made the world go round?
The brave Georgians, who fought off so many assaults on their mountain forts.
The Irish, Bretons, or Norwegians, who all fought for control over the New World...so the dutch could plunder the trade routes :D
The Serbs, who started more than a few global conflicts.
The Mighty Prussians! Who were always happy to upset the balance of someone else’s war.
Let us know who was the MVP...in your heart.

The first episode can be watched here: [previewyoutube="NdynUbjQQHQ;full"]

And the entire playlist is here: Playlist

Next week we will be back with a proper game related Dev Diary, with some very interesting and hotly requested new content that will be coming soon...

Dev Diary: More Missions

Click here to read on the Forums

Welcome back to a new Dev Diary! I am Aldaron and I am the other new Content Designer in Paradox Tinto. Happy to be here with all of you, adding a bit more information to that which my colleague @skingrado shared last Tuesday.

During the last Dev Diary there were two questions that were repeated a few times and that hopefully I will be able to answer today:

What about Western America?
Well, we cannot just add everything we have done to a single dev diary, but do not worry, because today we’ll show you a bit more, this time devoted to this area of North America that you people asked for.

Will there be any work on the rest of America?
The focus of this expansion is not the rest of America, but as a matter of fact, we added a mission for those nations with the Religious Reforms feature.

So without much preambles, and before we start, I would like to remind everyone a last tiny thing. As my colleague said last Tuesday, we have divided North American Natives into 6 of the 9 cultural areas that are normally used in anthropology when studying these people. Dividing them in cultural areas has given us the opportunity to group several TAGs into a common core and at the same time add diversity to the area.

MISSIONS:

As you might know, one of the less fun things when playing natives was the mission tree. You had the general mission tree, but you could not fill it due to the limitation natives have! Well, no more. As part of the work on natives, we have created a new general mission tree adapted to Natives, with some interrelationships between several of the missions and the addition of some new ones to make them more engaging. This mission tree is available to every native nation, from the Northwestern Pass to Tierra del Fuego.

(Notice that all icons are still placeholders).​

Besides, as you can see in the previous image, we have added a small mission (Reform our Religion) for the three more advanced native groups (Aztec, Inca and Maya) to deal with their mechanics, despite them not being the focus of the expansion.

Continuing with last week’s trend, here we have the specific regional mission tree for those natives whose living developed in the Great Plains of North America. This group includes the several Sioux tribes (such as Lakota or Dakota [Sioux ingame]), the Shoshone or the Wichita. This group’s focus revolves around hunting bison and would evolve to a horse riding culture after contact with the Europeans. Without any doubt the most iconic Native American group of people.

Some highlights of this tree include:

  • Gathering all that available food from the wild that will improve your economic power.
  • Befriending those around you will help you with your federations.
  • Capturing those horses from the Europeans will greatly improve your capacity to combat over them.


If Plain Natives were a rather peaceful people before contact, Northwestern ones were pretty much the contrary. Raidings were a constant in the life of these people and would bring their canoes to capture slaves as south as California. But war and slavery were not the only thing Northwestern natives would focus on, they had a complex social culture that involved showing wealth of to their own people or to foreigners as a way to celebrate their power (the Potlach Ceremony) or showing respect to ancestors or shaming enemies with their elaborate totems.

Some highlights of this tree include:

  • Remembering the ancestors and their deeds to unite your people under your rule.
  • Boasting about your wealth to bring your allies closer to you.
  • Showing your strength and using that fear against your enemies.

NATIONAL IDEAS:

Pretty much as with Mission Trees, we have divided National Ideas into Regional National Ideas that will fire for TAGs belonging to certain regions.

In this DD I will present two of the six regional sets.

Since California was forgotten in the previous section, I will start with them.

California is the smallest cultural region in North America but with a very pronounced personality. Despite being mostly sedentary people, living in a very rich region, Californian Natives did not rely much on agriculture and despite their population density (it is estimated it was the biggest in NA) they were not very warfaring. Their NIs relate to their own development and diplomatic expansion.

california_native_ideas = {
start = {
autonomy_change_time = -0.25
same_culture_advisor_cost = -0.5
}

bonus = {
years_of_nationalism = -5
}

trigger = {
primary_culture = yokuts
}
free = yes

division_as_a_strength_cf = {
num_accepted_cultures = 1
promote_culture_cost = -0.25
}
basketweaving = {
production_efficiency = 0.05
}
tribelets = {
diplomatic_upkeep = 1
stability_cost_modifier = -0.10
}
forest_gardening = {
development_cost = -0.10
}
kuksu_cult = {
religious_unity = 0.5
}
rock_art = {
prestige_decay = -0.01
global_unrest = -2
}
medicine_men = {
land_attrition = -0.10
}
}

Back to the Northwest, these people had a different angle on how they saw life and their NIs are more devoted to warfare and expansion.

nw_native_ideas = {
start = {
development_cost = -0.10
heir_chance = 0.5
}

bonus = {
army_tradition_decay = -0.01
}

trigger = {
OR = {
primary_culture = athabascan
primary_culture = chinook
primary_culture = haida
primary_culture = salish
}
}
free = yes

raid_warfare_nw = {
infantry_shock = 0.5
rival_change_cost = -0.2
}
brother_salmon = {
tolerance_own = 1
}
potlatch = {
improve_relation_modifier = 0.2
global_unrest = -2
}
mother_and_father = {
female_advisor_chance = 0.1
}
totem_poles_nw = {
prestige_decay = -0.01
stability_cost_modifier = -0.1
}
canoe_people = {
leader_land_manuever = 1
}
division_as_a_strength_nw = {
num_accepted_cultures = 1
promote_culture_cost = -0.25
}
}

EVENTS:

Different regions will have access to different events, and some common ones. This week we will show a few of these regional events and we’ll call it a day for now.

Californian Natives had their own secret cults that should you pay the price for them would bring you some well being.

Diplomacy in the Plains is not always easy.

The Potlach was a massively important ceremony for the Northwestern Natives. Choosing to celebrate it or not could have consequences.

You might have noticed that both my colleague and me have shown a small selection of missions for you. After the release you will have the chance to discover the other two regional mission trees (SE and California) and several TAG/culture specific ones, find some Easter eggs here and there and several other goodies. Stay tuned and see you next week!

The Grandest Virtual LAN Party - LIVESTREAM - twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

The return of the Grandest Lan



We are thrilled to be able to once again together with Turbolarp bring you the ultimate EUIV multiplayer experience, now in an online version inspired by The Grandest Lan Party events (2017-2019). We aim to recreate the atmosphere of the real life event, while we hope to be able to bring back the physical event soon. It is Paradox’s and Turbolarp’s vision to have a fantastic community get-together and make it an EUIV celebration.

Multiplayer Europa Universalis IV is the ultimate challenge for grand strategy game afficianadoes. Coordinating co-operative operations to take down big blue bullies before making that fatal backstab that undoes centuries of friendship. All in the name of history.

Participants will be divided into teams of three and together play one nation at the time. Collaborating in decision making, doing diplomacy and creating a nation’s chronicle will be among activities available. Adding to this, the stream audience will also have a chance to influence the experience of the participants.

Since 2017, The Grandest LAN has been the signature multiplayer event for EU4 fans, but, because of the history we are now living through, an elaborate castle event is impossible this year.

But that does not mean that the history wars have stopped! This year, the Grandest LAN is moving online, opening up the event to even more people who, in previous years, would have been deterred by the travel involved.


For more information, visit: eu4lan.com


The whole event will be livestreamed all through the day on both the 21st and 22nd of November (9:30am - 10pm CET) over at our twitch channel!

The Setup
We will have the computers set up in an actual LAN within the Paradox Offices in Stockholm. Each team uses Parsec to connect to "their" computer from which they will control their country.
Interactions and diplomacy will be carried out over Discord, and it will all be casted on Twitch where we aim to bring our viewers insight into the current events and intrigues playing out behind the scenes on top of the usual spectating of the game.